Hello, readers! This year has already been five thousand weeks long, so as a treat, I have gathered together five excellent books to help you escape. There are so many fun, escapist sci-fi books to choose from. We all know The Hitchhiker’s Guide series, and the Murderbot Diaries, and basically everything John Scalzi and Becky Chambers write. So I aimed for possibly lesser-known titles to help you expand your TBR. If you’re a sci-fi fan, you may have heard of them, and this might be the nudge you need to pick them up. And if you’re new to the genre—welcome! We have cookies. (They go great with blue milk.)
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Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen
This would just be a really intense espionage series if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s hilarious and Agent Kangaroo makes a mess of his assignments. (Spies—they’re just like us!) After another such mishap, Kangaroo is forced to take a vacation. So, of course, he stumbles upon a massive conspiracy on his cruise to Mars. Kangaroo will have to take on the crisis himself and hop for the best. (Ba-dum-tiss.)
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Alana Quick is a sky surgeon (space ship mechanic), but she’s barely making ends meet in Helidor City. So when a ship stops by her place, and she learns the crew is searching for her sister, Nova, Alana throws caution to the wind and stows away. On board, she discovers an unusual crew. The pilot has the ability to disappear, the chief engineer thinks he’s a wolf, and the captain makes Alana’s heart beat like an 808 drum.
I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming
Kimberly Lemming has a comical series of fantasy romances—the Mead Mishaps—and now, most recently, she has taken to the skies! Wildlife biologist Dorothy Valentine is used to studying creatures in her world, but through a series of mishaps, she ends up being beamed aboard an alien spaceship, along with a lion she names Toto. And when the ship crashes on a dinosaur planet, she meets not one but two hot aliens.
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Moon Soul by Nathaniel Luscombe
For a charming, low-stakes read, pick up this recent novella. August is a young woman on a small desert moon whose decision to quit her job has her feeling adrift. But her new job in the Hanging Gardens brings new friends and new experiences into her life. Moon Soul is a little more serious than the other books on this list, but the lovely story of introspection might be the comforting hug someone needs right now.
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes
And finally, there’s this Book Riot perennial favorite, an exciting series about a space captain and the crew of the cargo ship La Sirena Negra. In the first book, Captain Eva Innocente receives word that her sister has been kidnapped by an evil organization and has been put in cryostasis until Eva gets the ransom together. Now the ship must take on a series of dangerous jobs to raise the funds, while a despotic emperor is hot on their tail and a shipment of psychic cats runs loose in the cargo hold.
Looking for more fun sci-fi? Check out 12 of the Funniest Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, 20 Must-Read Feel-Good Science Fiction Books, and 9 Science Fiction Reads for Every Mood.
Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the Book Riot podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.
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